Eagles’ Saquon Barkley Talks Saints Win, Philly Fans, Giants, More in B/R Interview

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Perhaps no team in the NFL was under more pressure in Week 3 than the Philadelphia Eagles, who were not only trying to put their stunning Week 2 loss to the Atlanta Falcons in the rearview mirror but also further distance themselves from last season’s collapse.

It was fitting, then, that their new running back who just so happened to drop a late pass that could have iced a win over Atlanta was the one to lead the bounce-back effort in a 15-12 road victory over a potential fellow NFC contender in the New Orleans Saints.

Saquon Barkley tallied 147 yards on the ground and put the offense on his back in the most meaningful moments with two touchdowns in the fourth quarter. His second score was the game-winner, but his first score from 65 yards out provided an emotional boost on the next play after a helmet-to-helmet hit from Khristian Boyd knocked wide receiver DeVonta Smith out of the game.

“I think it’s funny how the football gods work,” Barkley told Bleacher Report. “DeVonta just got taken out with a late hit, a dirty hit. I’m just going to call it what it is. The NFL does a really good job on focusing on the protection of its players, and that play right there let him down. The next play, the offensive line blocks it up perfectly and gives me a seam and we go 65. That’s just how football works.

“That’s what it’s all about, having each other’s back. From that moment on, even when we had the two-minute drive. The defense played great for us all game, and then they ended up letting up the touchdown. We went into that huddle saying ‘they had our back, now we have to have their back. We have to believe in each other.'”

NFL @NFLSAQUON BARKLEY 65-YARD TOUCHDOWN.

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That type of belief and picking each other up was evident throughout the game, as the defense largely contained a previously red-hot Saints offense before the offense made the key plays at the end with Barkley’s two touchdowns and a 61-yard connection from Jalen Hurts to Dallas Goedert to set up the last score.

It was also much-needed after Philadelphia lost a game to the Falcons even though it had the ball at Atlanta’s 10-yard line with a three-point lead in the last two minutes when the NFC South team had no timeouts remaining.

Yet Barkley’s drop on a key third-down pass stopped the clock, and the Eagles then decided to kick a field goal and extend the lead to six instead of going for fourth down. It proved costly, as Kirk Cousins led the Falcons right down the field for the game-winning touchdown, flipping a game that the NFC East team seemed to have in full control.

Barkley told reporters after the game, “it was a great play call, I just have to make the catch,” but both he and the team as a whole responded by sticking to the mantra of having each other’s backs the next time they took the field.

“Everyone got caught up in the loss to the Falcons,” Barkley said. “In reality, I catch that ball and we’re 3-0. That’s just the reality of the situation. I don’t think it was so much ‘oh, we won a game after we lost.’ It was more just how we fought.

“We didn’t play well on offense, but our defense had our back. We started off the first half with zero points and the defense kept coming to us saying, ‘we’ve got your back.’ It was more of a feeling of ‘we’ve got your back.’ I think that’s going to help us down the road. We know how talented we are, but how mentally tough are we? How much can we go out there and fight for each other? I think that was on full display this Sunday.”

It was also on full display in the season-opening 34-29 win over the Green Bay Packers when Barkley helped the Eagles overcome an unfamiliar playing surface in Brazil, the difficulties of traveling so far and an inconsistent defensive performance by tallying 132 total yards and three touchdowns.

NFL @NFLSAQUON BARKLEY HAS THREE TDS IN HIS @EAGLES DEBUT.

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It was quite the introduction to Philadelphia fans, especially after they previously cheered against him as a division rival during his first six seasons with the New York Giants.

“I’ve gotten to see both sides of it,” Barkley said when discussing Philadelphia fans. “I got to see when it’s really good and I got to see when you’re the guy who messes up the play and you get to hear that Philly side of it too. But that’s the beauty of it. You know how passionate the fans are, you know the culture that’s around that city. The second you sign there or the second you’re drafted there, you have to embrace it. You have to fall in love with it. When it’s high, they’re going to embrace you. And when it’s low, they’re going to let you know. That’s how I want it to be. You don’t want people to sugarcoat anything, you don’t want people to lie to you.”

That type of passion is exactly what he was looking for when he signed with the Eagles.

“Something I’m starting to see here, every loss is like you lost the Super Bowl,” he said. “I’d rather have it that way than people getting comfortable with losing football games.”

When those fans aren’t showing their passion for Barkley and the Eagles on the field, they will have the chance to see the star running back performing off it in a different role.

He, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy and Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell all partnered with Applebee’s to promote the new 50-cent boneless wings deal at the official grill and bar of the NFL.

Fans have already seen the trio on various commercials during breaks in play this season, and Applebee’s is providing a deeper look through a six-episode series Pre-Seasoning—An Applebee’s Training Camp.

Those episodes will show some of the training Barkley, Purdy and Campbell went through for Team Applebee’s and will be available on Applebee’s social channels.

“The partnership has been great,” Barkley said. “It’s something I’ve been a fan of for a long time. I go back to my high school days after Friday night lights and going out with my teammates to eat at Applebee’s. So many memories were created there, and now it’s come full circle to be able to work with them. It’s been truly a blessing.”

So how would he rate his acting skills?

“I’m year seven now, I’ve done a couple of these,” he said while laughing. “I think I am getting a little better. A lot of times they tell me I should have tried to go on TV. I think they tell everybody that, so I’m not going to let it get to my head.”

He will be on TV plenty this year if the Eagles live up to expectations, which they are well-positioned to do when A.J. Brown (hamstring) and Smith are back on the field together.

Brown, Smith, Barkley and Hurts all playing together is a terrifying notion for the rest of the league, as opponents can only commit so many defenders to the box to stop the run with the receivers on the outside. They also have to hesitate for a beat longer to make sure Hurts doesn’t keep it himself, and even a moment’s hesitation is all Barkley needs to be a touchdown machine.

Thanks in large part to Barkley, Philadelphia is better positioned than last season when it went 1-5 in the final six games before a first-round playoff exit. That is especially true if it continues to show the resilience needed to bounce back from the Falcons loss and overcome the up-and-down play during the challenging game against the Saints.

“I was super excited saying, ‘A.J. and DeVonta and Jalen and Dallas and Lane [Johnson] and the list goes on and on,'” Barkley said of joining the Eagles. “But what happened and what was on display last week made me fall so much more in love with this team. That’s big. We could have easily folded. I wasn’t here in the past and I don’t know what happened last year, but that wasn’t the case this year.

“There are going to be a lot more moments like that, and we have to fall back to that and the process of trusting each other. With the talent that we have and the coaches that we have in all phases, if we go out there and execute and take care of the ball, we’re going to be in pretty good shape.”

NFL @NFLSAQUON BARKLEY AGAIN.

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Pretty good shape would be challenging for a Super Bowl title, which is something Barkley never really had the chance to do while making the playoffs just once in six years with the Giants.

He became the face of the franchise in New York as the No. 2 overall pick of the 2018 NFL draft who won the Offensive Rookie of the Year, tallied more than 1,000 yards from scrimmage four times and made two Pro Bowls, but the Giants still chose to franchise tag him ahead of the 2023 season and not bring him back for 2024.

Instead, he ended up in Philadelphia—which is exactly what Giants owner John Mara feared during an offseason episode of HBO’s Hard Knocks—and he will have the chance to play against his former team in Weeks 7 and 18.

The first one will be on the road for Barkley, which means playing in front of the same fans who cheered him on for so long in New York.

“I wouldn’t say I have them circled on my calendar,” he said of the games. “I definitely thought about it during the offseason and what it’s going to be like and what my emotions are going to be. For me, it’s just another game. I’m not going to sit here and say I don’t know when the game is. I know when that game is. But I don’t get too caught up in it. I’ve allowed myself to do that in the past, and I didn’t like who I was at that moment. So learn from your mistakes and just continue to grow and improve as a person and player in between.”

He may not have them circled on his calendar, but Eagles fans certainly do. And if the start of the season is any indication, he’s going to put up monster numbers.